Lots of water on tap

While the provincial government rings drought alarm bells, conditions are good in Greater Vernon.

The Greater Vernon Advisory Committee insists there is sufficient water to meet demand despite the dry weather.

“Our reservoir levels are fine. We are in stage one (water restrictions) very comfortably due to conservation by our customers and our operations crew have tightened up controls,” said Zee Marcolin, utility manager.

The provincial government has declared a level through drought in the Okanagan and it was expected to ask GVAC to cut back on water use by 30 per cent. But that request won’t occur now because of the current conditions in Greater Vernon.

“We have a drought management plan and we’ve been working on it all summer,” said Marcolin, adding that a 30 per cent reduction in water would negatively impact fish flows.

Stage one restrictions allow residents to irrigate three days based on their address.

“We still want the conservation that people are doing now. We always want people to be cautious,” said Marcolin.

Director Bob Fleming is concerned the public may be confused over water levels here and drought conditions elsewhere.

“We need information on our website that we’ve been planning for drought and our situation is independent of what’s going on in the rest of the Okanagan,” he said.